Martin scratches songs

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin says the band has
ditched more than 40 songs as it starts work on its new album, reports
NME.com.

Martin says the band is already writing and recording
material for the follow-up to A Rush of Blood to the Head. But he said
its biggest achievement on the project so far has been dropping songs that were
not up to scratch.

"So far all we've achieved is managing to scrap 42
songs. I regard that as constructive destruction," Martin said. "But numbers
are insignificant. You could say: 'I've written 12 songs' and they're all
rubbish, or you could say you've written one song and it could be Queen's
Bohemian Rhapsody."

He added: "We've got some tunes, man - let me
tell you that!"

Coldplay's new album is not due before the end of
2004 but is already being billed as one of the most hotly anticipated releases
in years.